Federal Judiciary

'Uncharacteristic of a great country," &c. -- By: Jay Nordlinger

In China, the government is abusing and imprisoning another very brave dissident. This one?s name is Liu Xiaobo. I was interested in the response of our government, the American government. Before Liu?s sentencing, State Department spokesman P. J. Crowley said, ?As far as we can tell, this man?s crime was simply signing a piece of paper that aspires to a more open and participatory form of government. That is not a crime.? Oh, but in China -- and many other places -- it certainly is. Crowley continued, ?These kind of actions -- clearly a political trial that will likely lead to a political conviction -- are uncharacteristic of a great country.? Yes, they are uncharacteristic of a great country. Are they uncharacteristic of China, under the Communists? Of course not. Crowley?s statement was ambiguous, and unhelpfully so, I think. (For a news article, go here.)

Deng Xiaoping famously called for a ?socialism with Chinese characteristics.? I would less famously call for a China with characteristics of a decent humanity.

As my readers know, I am not a language snob. No, really: I am interested in language, but not snobbish about it. (You?ll back me up on this, won?t you?) I am an observer and commentator, rather than a prescriptivist. A pox on prescriptivists (most of the time). Still: I don?t believe that our State Department spokesman should say such things as ?these kind of actions.? Does that make me a badun? Sue me (a move that Americans typically do not need to be invited to make).

I acknowledge that ?these kinds of action? sounds stuffy. But that is because the wrong is in such common use.

Want to feel indignant? The headline read, ?Libya accuses Swiss of abusing Gadhafi son.? I almost spit out my Nestlé?s Chocolate Quik. The article began, ?Libya on Friday accused Swiss authorities of using excessive force during the arrest of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi?s son in Switzerland last year, deepening a diplomatic standoff between the two countries.? The article continued, ?The Libyan Foreign Ministry issued a list of 27 grievances connected to the arrest of Hannibal Gadhafi, who was apprehended with his wife in July 2008 for allegedly beating up their servants in a Geneva hotel. Gadhafi and his wife were released on bail three days later and returned to Libya.?

Recall what Libya does to prisoners -- recall what happened to those Bulgarian nurses, who were falsely accused of infecting children with AIDS. They were tortured and maimed. Now Libya is accusing the Swiss -- the Swiss! -- of maltreating Prince Hannibal. Disgusting. I was going to call the accusation ?rich,? but it?s more disgusting than that.

Consider, for a moment, the father of the Christmas Day air terrorist -- the father who went to U.S. authorities and said, ?I?m afraid that my son has become radicalized and could be a danger to your country.? What a remarkable step for a father to take! Heroic, almost. People don?t think enough of the parents of criminals -- of the pain they endure. It is a terrible position to be in. Frankly, I could nominate Alhaji Umaru Mutallab for Father of the Year.

Bit of fun with a headline? Forgive me, but when I saw ?Iran confirms Bin Laden daughter at Saudi Embassy? I thought for a split second -- before the mind focused -- that the headline referred to some kind of religious rite. (Story here.)

You will remember when the Left, and other opponents of the Iraq War, used to ridicule our coalition there, saying that these were dinky countries that contributed very little. I myself addressed this issue a thousand times. And I thought of it when reading a report last week that began, ?Bulgaria says it will send 30 more troops to the NATO-led force in Afghanistan early next year.? Better than nothing, and counts.

?Journalist killed in Mexico, 12th case in 2009,? read the headline. (For the article, go here.) I realize that Mexico is a large and populous country. But doesn?t twelve sound like rather a lot? A worryingly lot?

Bear in mind one thing about Alabama congressman Parker Griffith?s switch from the Democratic party to the Republican. Usually, when congressmen switch, they go to the party with the majority. Griffith is leaving for a party that is way down in his chamber, the House (no matter the mood of his district). American politics is pretty interesting at the moment.

Friends, I hope you are enjoying your National Review -- your current issue. Lots of NR-y goodness within. My own contribution is a review of Terry Teachout?s wonderful new biography of Louis Armstrong, Pops. As it happens, this is the second Armstrong biography I have reviewed. Thirteen years ago, for The Weekly Standard -- for which I was then working -- I reviewed Laurence Bergreen?s Louis Armstrong: An Extravagant Life. That is also a wonderful book. Bergreen is a biographer of Jazz Age figures, having done Al Capone, James Agee, and Irving Berlin, as well as ?Satch.? He has also written about space exploration and other things. Terry, too, is a master of many subjects, a real whiz. He has done biographies of Balanchine and Mencken (not exactly twins). You will want his take on anything, be it literature, music, theater, politics, what have you. Armstrong is a very familiar character -- but you have to have Terry?s treatment of him. Churchill is a very familiar character, too -- even more of one. But if Paul Johnson writes a biography, as he just has, you must have it. Or at least I must.

I?ve said that Armstrong is very familiar -- but let me quote something I say toward the end of my review: ?Reading Teachout?s book had the effect of making me love Louis Armstrong all over again. I also thought a bit about fame. At one time, Armstrong was one of the most famous people in the world: any nationality, any field.? But how about now?

The world forgets with astonishing speed. I run into young conservatives all the time who are unclear on who William F. Buckley Jr. was. A few years ago, a very bright, very mature student at a top-rated law school thanked me for introducing him to the name Solzhenitsyn. He had never heard of him. I expressed incredulity. He said he doubted his classmates would have heard of him either. I was still incredulous. He later polled his friends -- and only one, a Russian, knew the name. And that young man thought that Solzhenitsyn had been a prominent Communist.

May I share with you now a note I received from Lou Cannon? I have his permission, of course. And Cannon, as you know, is the veteran political journalist and Reagan biographer (among other things). He writes,

I?m from an era where Armstrong was universally admired. He was certainly admired by everyone I knew growing up. His music comforted us all, and he also was an asset to race relations at a time when they were quite strained in our country. I?m 76 years old, and when I was in high school in the late 1940s we listened to Satchmo, Glenn Miller, Harry James, and the big bands. (Do you remember Les Brown and His Band of Renown?) . . . I was also struck by your sentence, ?The world forgets at astonishing speed.? When I first started giving speeches in the 1960s, I?d have to bring younger audiences up to date on TR and Woodrow Wilson. Now, one has to do the same with Reagan. The young people have heard of him, but don?t know who he was or what he did.

As long as I am sharing notes, would you like one from Priscilla Buckley? (Also with permission.) She is one of WFB?s sisters, for many years the managing editor of National Review. ?Tween Christmas and New Year?s, she wrote me,

I managed to skip the storms [in the New York area] by flying to South Carolina the day before they started. There I was asked at the last moment -- the lieutenant governor of South Carolina being snowed in in New York -- to substitute as the grand marshal of the 11th annual Boykin Christmas parade. Twenty-thousand spectators. I found myself riding around in a white carriage -- white horse, driver in top hat and tails -- making like Queen Elizabeth. It was great fun, and I felt pretty silly.

So wish I had been there.

By the way, Priscilla?s latest book is History Writ Small: Exploring Its Nooks & Crannies by Barge, Boat, and Balloon. Last summer, NR published a version of my foreword to this book. To read it, go here.

I seem to be pushing writings: My review of David Horowitz?s new memoir appeared at NRO just before Christmas. If you missed it, and would like to read it, go here.

Lou Cannon?s son Carl, also a distinguished journalist? At Christmas, he wrote a paean to the American newspaper. Check it out, here.

Let?s have a little language. A reader sent me an item from the New York Times about banning the terms ?nerd? and ?geek.? I thought of a story -- about my niece, who was then about nine, I believe. She liked a boy in school and told my mom, her grandmother, that he was a ?nerd.? My mom said, ?Well, Meghan, I don?t think that?s very nice, is it?? And Meghan said, ?Oh, no, Grandma -- all that means is that he?s very good at computers.?

Shall we have a name? A reader writes to highlight Welshman Ncube, Zimbabwe?s minister of industry and commerce. Although, given the beastliness of Zimbabwe?s government, I hate to treat any aspect of it lightly. Still, ?Welshman Ncube? -- a name.

Was walking through an airport the other day, and saw one of those Accenture posters -- one of those Accenture ads. As you may know, Accenture has dropped Tiger Woods as a spokesman, or endorser, or model, or whatever he has been. But the ads are still around. This particular one showed Tiger in a predicament, on the golf course. His ball was in a very difficult spot. And the words were, ?It?s what you do next that counts.? That is so very true.

Full post as published by Bench Memos - National Review Online on January 04, 2010 (boomark / email).